The Chrysler K-Car Club

I noticed a few weeks ago that I had a little play in my drivers side front wheel. Small, less than an 1/8" on the tie rod. I can tell that it is just that side of the rack n pinion. Called a shop here in town to see how much to get it rebuilt. They want $120 after I pull it. I looked on eBay and there are a few for half the price shipped to me. The only problem is they say its for my year and model, but also tell me its up to me to be sure that the part number is right.
I can now feel it wiggle I'm the steering wheel, so I med to get on it.
So I guess I am asking a couple of questions here.
#1 what is the part # ? 84 Lebaron 2.6L with power steering. Not sure if mod information is needed.
#2 does anyone have a how to on how to rebuild this thing so o can do it myself, that would be my prefered option
Thanks

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Thanks for your reply, Yes its a pain to pull this unit and replace it, But that's life. Do it myself on a weekend or pay someone, I think I will do it myself. Called to find some rebuild kits, but no one wants to sell me one. So a replacement seems to be the way I am headed. Probably a good thing we have 3 day weekend coming up.
Thanks again for your help.
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Hi,

As K Car Wagon said there are two types of racks used , TRW and Saginaw. One of them, i don't recall which, had an aluminum body and once it wore you had to sleeve them to rebuild it. It might have been the Saginaw as GM was prone to doing things like that. Anyway that sleeving operation is way beyond what you can do in a home workshop. In any case I would not attempt to rebuild one of these racks, either one, as it's simply too complex a job. As i recall the racks where not interchangeable, but as K Car Wagon mentioned that may have more to do with the power steering hoses. It's a big enough pain to get the rack in or out of the car without getting into a complex rebuilding operation.

Good luck.

Not too hard of a job to replace, drop the K frame and it's a peice of cake from there. I'd check the inner tierods before condemning the rack thu. They can be changed in the car.

What do you mean by inter tie rod? I am guessing that it is the part that the outer tie rod threads on to, But I am not sure how to take that part out. That is the part that is loose by an 1/8" last time I checked.
I have been given some info from others on this site and will now spend sometime looking that over. Just drove it home so I want it to cool down a bit before I go and start taking things off of it and seeing for sure what I have and what the root of the problem is. Last time I took it off, I dropped the whole cross member out to do it. Not real hard, but still a pain.
Hope I can get this done quick enough to still go camping this weekend.
Thanks again.

Well I finally got it fixed. The problem I had before was just a bulge in the tire, So I fixed that and let the rest ride till it cooled down. So it finally did this week and I got on it Saturday. Was all set to replace the whole rack & pinion, Got it out started looking it over and calling around for parts and the rebuilt one, Was going to be about $120 -$150 to replace it, So I thought, what the hey, Tear it up and see how its put together. Turns out the inner tie rod was pretty simple to replace and after calling around and going to get it, I have a TRW one and the rod was only $8. SWEET!!
And just FYI. TRW has a screw in dust cap, Saginaw has a pressed in one. You will know it when you see it. If there is some big threaded cap on the main housing, Its a TRW. Took me about 7 hours with 3 hours of driving around and getting the parts. Glad I did it. I was quoted $450 to have a guy "I know" fix it for me. Won't be letting that guy work on this car anytime soon.
Also did my own alinement then the master cylinder replace.
Pretty good weekend for my LeBaron>
Thanks for everyones help.

Hi,

Thanks for sharing the success story, it's always good to hear those. Also, nice tip on identifing the two different steering racks.

Well, my rack and pinion is 23 years old and starting to show its age. I have a power steering leak with a clamp on it. My exhaust is also still original and orange, and I have an exhaust leak of some sort.

I'm with Pete.

These sorts of tips will help all members with similar problems - thanks for sharing your story
Regards

Gary